During one of the Shabbos meals, the sound of singing rang
out from the dining hall: "If a Jew knew what an Arachim
seminar is, he would stay there another twenty years." The
singing was both rousing and poignant. The participants in
the Arachim seminar in Zichron Yaakov on Chanukkah sang the
song from the bottom of their hearts.

A man who sang the words and also lived them in practice, is
the director of Arachim, Rabbi Yosef Wallis. Twenty years ago
he attended an Arachim seminar and was drawn in: "I came to
one with Tzvi Inbal (now a rabbi) from the Technion in Haifa,
in order to criticize and undermine. I was sure that none of
the lecturers could answer the questions I had. During the
seminar I got the answers -- and I stayed."

Twenty years have passed and now Rabbi Yossi Wallis is the
director of the organization.

Arachim has been active for 25 years and in that quarter
century it has touched the hearts of more than half-a-million
Jews in 35 different countries on five continents. The idea
behind its establishment was the need to halt the breakdown
of Jewish values and to give meaning to Jewish identity,
which had been degenerating due to a lack of knowledge. The
founders understood that if the problem was due to a loss of
values, then restoring those values was the answer.

It was enough to take part in the closing symposium on
Saturday night this past Chanukkah to understand exactly what
Arachim does to spread Jewish awareness. The participants,
most of whom had been exposed for the first time during the
previous three days to authentic Jewish values, were visibly
moved and had a hard time expressing themselves. Each one
attempted to articulate his gratitude in his own way. Some of
them could not hold back and simply burst into tears. The
other participants in the room also wiped away a tear -- some
openly and some less so.

"I came with an empty container and I left with a box full of
tools," said one of the participants. One of the participants
said that he works as an air steward and that, by chance, he
met someone in Australia from Arachim who registered him for
a seminar. He marvelled that he had to go all the way across
the world in order to be exposed, for the first time, to
authentic Judaism in Israel: "From there, I made it to
Arachim."

Others told of the small details they noted over Shabbos
among the staff members and their families, which made them
reevaluate their own lives. "I couldn't help but be impressed
with the sight of Rabbi Stavsky's Shabbos table," one of
those present said emotionally. "It was absolutely perfect.
That was how a Jewish home should look."

Others said that the seminar completely shattered the
distorted impression they had of the chareidi public. "You
have no idea what a change you have caused in my heart," one
of the participants said. At the closing symposium each
participant talked about his personal impressions. The
general feeling was that something positive had happened to
them; something that they had not experienced before.

***

"This doesn't come easily," Rabbi Wallis says. "Each seminar
is the result of a lot of work over a long time, beginning
with parlor meetings, lectures and a lot of activities all
around the country."

At Arachim they like to say that it's a production line, like
a factory. First, the R&D department goes to work -- that's
the people at Manof who collect material for lectures.

After that, the advertising people go into operation, to
market the seminars. After them, come the salespeople -- the
registrars. And later on comes the `production,' the seminar
itself.

"But the factory never stops working: after the production we
offer customer service -- ongoing contact between the
lecturers and those who have been through the seminars. And
here we're already talking about product liability."

Unlike a factory, however, there are living and thinking
products; the work is much more difficult and complicated,
but most of all it is interesting and fulfilling.

The seminar over Chanukkah in Zichron Yaakov was intended for
academics, those with a university-level education. "We
divide the seminars according to different sectors of the
population," they say at Arachim. "We interview the
participants about their education level, their profession,
and their level of religiosity. We do not accept religious
people into our seminars. After the interview we can put
together a homogeneous seminar."

Indeed, the targeted Arachim seminars are intended to bring
out the Jewish aspect of each participant's own world. That
is why a separate seminar for each field of knowledge is
needed: from the intensive seminar on education in Judaism to
a series of lectures on other topics in Judaism, including
the lessons of the European Holocaust and even "Martial Arts
and Judaism" for those interested in Eastern martial arts.
There is a series of lectures on Jewish law for those in law,
and other lectures for those involved in medicine. Arachim
insists that "you have to get to every Jew and quench his
thirst for Judaism, that's the motto."

***

At Arachim, they say that they are surprised each time anew
at the great thirst for Judaism. "We have had seminars at
which even the waiters and the manager of the hotel where the
seminar was held returned to the faith and changed their
lifestyles," Rabbi Wallis says. In one instance, the hotel
manager approached the organizers of the seminar and marveled
at the change in the guests. "You came here with totally
different people, and now I see a changed group of people,"
he said, in amazement.

"Over the course of the seminar, people even change their
outward appearance," relates the director.

The organizers also recall incidents that began in a very
unpleasant manner, but ended surprisingly. One took place
when the media "discovered" Arachim and sent reporters to
investigate a seminar. The media claimed that it was
brainwashing and sought to expose, so to speak, "the great
bluff." However, the reporters who came to cover the seminar
were blown away by the lectures and by the truth that was
laid out before them. "I remember reporters who handed us the
articles that they wrote and said that they had come with the
objective of writing antagonistically, but they can't write a
single negative word," recounts Rabbi Wallis.

Some of the reporters were so intent on writing positive
reviews of what they had witnessed that they stated that even
if their newspaper editors fired them, they would still stand
behind the truth of their reports.

Rabbi Wallis has many stories. One could easily fill a book
with them. He tells of a priest who discovered his Jewish
roots at a seminar in Los Angeles, and then he tells of
important society-types who came to a seminar and asked to
hear more and more. The stories come from all sectors of the
population.

And in fact, people of all types, of various socioeconomic
levels, and with different backgrounds in Judaism all
participate in the seminars. Single people and people with
families, academics, blue collar and white collar workers --
all can find something of interest in the various seminars
and lecture series of Arachim.

***

At the seminar during Chanukkah in Zichron Yaakov, famous
members of high society and the economic world took part as
well. In order not to interfere with their privacy and
progress in Judaism and towards observance of Torah and the
commandments, we will not publish their names. One of them
said that she got to the seminar through a close friend, who
recommended it. "I have no lack of money," she said, "I am
looking for meaning, and mainly for Judaism, after all of my
journeys around the world, out of a desire to pass that along
to my family.

"Five minutes after I got to the seminar, I wanted to leave.
I stayed another five minutes only because of peer pressure,
which brought me here in the first place, and I was
captivated."

Today, that woman is in an advanced dialogue with people from
Arachim in order to plan out her next steps.

"That is one of thousands of similar stories," says Rabbi
Wallis. "In our experience, more than half -- even sixty
percent and more -- return to the faith and begin to live a
religious lifestyle, keeping Shabbos and laying
tefillin."

At Arachim, a lot of thought goes into planning the seminars.
They were a pioneering development by the organization, with
others coming after them and using the same methods. The
seminar program is designed for those hundreds of thousands
who want to get to know their own Judaism but were never
given the chance to do so. The program encapsulates the
fundamentals of Judaism, as it relates to topics of interest
to people in our times.

Arachim developed a unique approach in its handling of
science and religion, the basis of Jewish faith and evidence
of Judaism's relevance to the modern world. Every year one
hundred seminars are held around the globe. In Israel there
are ten local branches of Arachim. Around the world, as well,
there are seminars and lectures -- from North to South
America, in western Europe, in the states of the former
Soviet Union, in South Africa, and even in the Far East.

***

Special emphasis is placed on the lectures: "We have a
recording department, which videotapes and records the
lectures. Afterwards, we go over the lectures and, if need
be, fix mistakes and lapses. The footage is used to train the
lecturers."

It is easy to see that the lecturers are trained and
experienced, and do their work with great selflessness,
staying long hours after their lectures are over to answer
the many questions raised by the participants. Over the
Shabbos that we spent with the seminar participants, the
lecturers were always available except for a few lone hours
of sleep. After the seminar is over, the lecturers maintain
contact and hold follow- up parlor meetings with seminar
participants.

In order to make it possible for participants to attend all
the lectures, volunteer counselors keep their children
occupied. A special program of activities was also designed
for the children.

"We attend to every participant, in order to provide him with
all the answers he needs, and not leave him without a reply,"
says Wallis. At the seminars for academics, as mentioned, 60
percent of the participants return to the faith and begin to
live a religious lifestyle. At the seminars for the general
public, the number is higher. It is hard to remain
indifferent to such unique and instructive lectures.

One of best-known lectures is that of Rabbi Dr. Shalom
Srebernik, with the vague title, "The World of Michael
Barko." It is a two-hour lecture which is particularly
fascinating and leaves a deep impression on those hearing it.
After that particular lecture, there were indeed many people
left rooted in their seats, unable to get up.

There are also lectures dealing with the meaning of life, the
puzzle of Creation, what does Judaism mean to you, the song
of the soul, and more.

The instructional department of Arachim trains new lecturers,
including special enrichment programs run by veteran
lecturers. The central program is called "Know What to
Respond," which is designed to provide tools with which to
actively engage the listener.

***

In the course of the widespread activity of Arachim, the
lecturers come into contact with hostility and ignorance
regarding Judaism and the chareidi public of Israel. The
hostility is due to both a lack of appropriate public
relations tools and to the media, which is antagonistic to
Judaism and to the Torah observant.

In response, Arachim established Manof -- the Jewish
Information and Data Center, with the aim of handling,
explaining and reacting to current Jewish affairs. Similarly,
one of its goals is to act as the voice of Judaism in every
social and value-based issue that comes to the fore. At Manof
there is an updated database of information relating to
thousands of Jewish topics, and it serves the needs of public
figures, Knesset members, and journalists, as well.

Related to Manof is also the Anti-Incitement League, which
monitors the media and files legal briefs in response to
media distortions and the like. Among its successes are a
drastic reduction in the publication of anti-religious
caricatures in the press, as well as a drastic reduction in
(negative) reports about religious Jews. Arachim also
maintains a huge collection of instructional tapes on various
topics, as well as source material and outlines appropriate
for lecturers and activists.

At Arachim, they don't rest for a minute. At the end of the
seminar in Zichron Yaakov, the organizers were not preparing
to take it easy. "We are beginning to prepare the next
seminar," they noted, and rushed off. It's a story of
values.